Gaurav Tekriwal’s Vedic Maths Sutra

Turning one’s passion into profession

Maths has always been his passion as he has been good at it. Gaurav Tekriwal, the founder of Kolkata based Vedic Maths Forum (India) followed his passion and is today a successful education entrepreneur. Tekriwal’s company has presence in over six countries including United States, South Africa, Australia, Ghana, UAE and India and is expanding every day. The 38-years old entrepreneur plans to scale up the franchise network from current 11 to over 75 by 2022.

Author of ‘Maths Sutra’, and ‘Speed Math’, Gaurav is also a TED Speaker  and one of India's Top Young Visionaries as referred by Indiafrica and Ministry of External Affairs of India. Through television programs, DVDs and Books he has taken the Vedic Maths system to over four million students.

If you are thinking of taking your startup to the next level, then it’s time to think big, scale up and grow. This is exactly what this Kolkata- based entrepreneur did before attaining phenomenal growth. In an exclusive chat with Baishali Mukherjee, here is the growth story from the horse’s mouth:

A confident Gaurav

A confident Gaurav

I am an entrepreneur and I believe in following my heart to make a real difference. I first came across Vedic Maths while preparing for CAT in 1999. None of my friends were aware of the subject through which you could calculate mentally at a faster pace. So I started sharing whatever little I knew. CAT didn’t happen for me and I started teaching Vedic Maths. Soon one thing led to the other and I got an invite to teach Vedic Maths in a reputed school in Kolkata. The next day the workshop was in the papers and more invitations started coming my way. Soon enough I decided that this is what I would like to do.

There is huge opportunity in education entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship in education is an extremely viable proposition in India and other countries as well. According to the DOCEBO E-learning Trends Report 2017, the size of the global eLearning market was estimated to be over USD 165 Billion in 2015 and is likely to grow by five per cent between 2016 and 2023, exceeding USD 240 Billion. In India about 250 million students are enrolled in schools in the K-12 segment. A majority of the students in private schools are taking supplementary education. The eLearning market in India is the 2nd largest market and I feel that there is huge opportunity in the field of e-learning and Mathematics overall – waiting to be tapped.

Identifying growth opportunity is important
Vedic Maths institutes in India are growing at a fast rate. Today there are 10-30 focused institutes across 150-300 centres, employing over 1000 Vedic math trainers. Kolkata Vedic Math Forum, has a 40-hour online course specially designed for teachers. The module contains 40 live ‘one-on-one’ one-hour online lessons in addition to basic and advanced theory and proofs of Vedic Mathematics. The course cost is $297. A 30-hour online course is also there especially customized for students preparing for GMAT, SAT and CAT and also for those at primary levels. The course fee is $147. There are other tools of learning including books costing Rs 125-325 and DVDs for Rs 4500. Vedic Maths is fast becoming an industry and it is established by the classes mushrooming in every other lane and by-lane.

The Vedic Maths Forum India has now expanded its gamut to serve schools and universities, corporate, societies and community centers through its programs to help them achieve academic excellence in mathematics.  So far over the past 17 years Gaurav had the opportunity to reach out to over four million students via workshops, talks, seminars, MOOC’s, webinars, DVDs, books, TV programs, mobile apps etc.Our growth strategy is to work with education ministries of state governments in India and national governments abroad. Most of them are looking for alternative pedagogies to make Maths learning easier for their students. Therefore, there are huge domestic and foreign markets for Vedic Maths.

Three basics of entrepreneurship

  •  If you think you have an idea wild enough to change the world for the better, I think you should start your own venture. Your idea could be the next big thing that the world needs.
  • You should work out of your comfort zone and that’s where most rewards lie and magic happens! You should be willing to go the extra mile and be willing to take some risks.
  • If you always wanted to be your own boss and have the satisfaction of creating jobs you should start your own venture. If you know that your way works and that it can be guiding lights to people – well why not? 

Suggestions for aspiring education entrepreneurs
I would highly recommend the budding education entrepreneurs to focus on one problem and to go deeper solving it by creating a niche. I think that’s one way to success. In my case I was focused towards solving the Maths problem which everyone had via Vedic Maths. And now I am still solving the same problem more deeply via online Maths tutoring. So solving it I made the mathematics hub in Kolkata where teachers come and teach the world from. So I have now created a niche for myself in the field of Maths education and this couldn’t have been made possible without this word ‘focus’!

What kind of course correction is needed in Indian education system? Please share your views.

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